Kissimmee to Cocoa Beach

Kissimmee to Cocoa Beach- It was back on the road to work off the 20 pounds I put on, and back over to the east coast. US 192 ran through Kissimmee and St Cloud. The trick, however, was getting through south Orlando.  There was NO accurate maps with the back roads that I needed, so I left the KOA with very little idea of where I was going.  I tried to parallel I-4, and used the sun and the wind to tell me if I was on track.  It was an adventure that I enjoyed, as Im not real big on planning every mile out in advance. I knew I was gonna hit one of several familiar roads at some point, I just didnt know when. It all worked out well, of course, and I found US192. It was pretty busy with lots of businesses,  and when I needed to find the road to Cocoa Beach, the maps again were no help, but I went into a body shop, and the guy there was no help, but a little old black woman who was waiting for her car to be finished, gave me great directions, including distances and landmarks. Many of the roads out that way are dead ends because of marshes and lakes, so I really didnt want to go 20 miles the wrong way, and end up on a sandpacked road. Many of the roads, even mapped ones do that down here, in the marshy areas
     Once I got on the road to Cocoa, about 10 miles out of St Cloud, I saw my first wild alligator under a low water bridge on county rd. 532. Now, that was cool! I stopped and visited with him for a while, including a photo session.

  There was no traffic on this road, just 30 miles of marsh and lots of cattle ranches.  The wind was in my face for most of the trip heading east, so when I got to Cocoa,my knees hurt a little and my average mph was worse than it has been. I was hoping it was the headwind, and not five days of glutony and laziness in Orlando!
     We planned the trip toCocoa, because it is close to Kennedy Space Center, and when I looked a week ago, there was a cargo rocket scheduled to be launched. We thought it would be cool to see a launch, but of course it was scrubbed at the last minute. We settled for doing the tour, which was interesting, with lots of actual equipment that will be detailed pretty well in the photos we post. Another benefit of being in this area, is the orange trees, right in the campgound. They taste great right off the tree!

Garden of the Rockets

This is where they assemble the rockets.

Saturn rocket - this is the type that took the Apollo flights to the moon.

Saturn rocket

Well, that's how the astronauts ride in the capsule!

 

Hanging with my buds!  These are the original 7 astronauts.  Their starting salary was 30-40K.  Really!

Beautiful monument and fountain in memory of our lost astronauts.

Mike and space bear....

Mural of international space station with the flags of all the participating countries.  With a little Christmas lights thrown in!

Space suit that Alan Sheppard wore on the moon.  Darkness on bottom part of legs is moon dust!!!

One of the launch pads (on the left)

The white plane looking thing in the building is the Atlantis, the last space shuttle.  The building is being built around the shuttle and it will be a new exhibit that will open the summer of 2013.